hsurbriaH a fo tnaW nI In Want of a Hairbrush
by potterlovegood
Summary: The Trio, Neville, Ginny & Luna in the Unknowable Room of the Room of Requirements searching for the Ravenclaw Horcrux. Harry is paired with Luna and together they come across an object from Harry's past. Takes place after HBP. Not DH compliant.


**Title:** hsurbriaH a fo tnaW nI(In Want of a Hairbrush)

**Author:** Potterlovegood

**Rating:** K

**Word Count:** 3052

**Summary:** The Trio, Neville, Ginny and Luna find themselves in the Unknowable Room of the Room of Requirements searching for the Ravenclaw Horcrux. Harry is paired with Luna and together they come across an object from Harry's past. Takes place within year of HBP

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing, JKR owns everything (well at least she is rich enough to own everything). Anyway, these are her characters, my idea.

**Author's notes:** This fic is listed as _complete_ for now. It is however a semi-sequel to Feeling Nimbus. I may also do other oneshots that are a continuation or prequel to this.

**Special Thanks**: To **LadyKnyght** who beta-ed this for me. Thank you for all your helpful comments and corrections.

**_hsurbriaH a fo tnaW nI_**

_**(In Want of a Hairbrush)**_

They had already been there three days searching through the mounds of hidden (and most likely forgotten) items that filled the cathedral sized room. It had been Harry's idea to split into three groups, and divide the massive room into four sections, each group taking one section and leaving the fourth to search together (if they hadn't had any luck before that).

It had also been Harry's idea on how the groups were to split up. Hermione, Luna and Ginny were the ones most proficient with the _Animusquaero_ charm thus it only made sense to split them up. So Harry partnered Ron and Hermione together to give them a chance to spend some extra _alone_ time together (since they were all but officially dating). That left Ginny, Neville, Luna and Harry.

Harry also decided to pair Ginny with Neville because at this point Harry was convinced that he would not be comfortable working with Ginny, not after the tumult surrounding the whole _Love Potion Affair_ (as Harry like to refer to it). He had, for the most part, gotten over his anger and frustration regarding Hermione and Ginny's devious actions but things hadn't exactly gotten back to normal between him and the two girls. Harry wasn't _exactly_ certain what was _normal_ for Ginny and him. They had never really been close friends prior to their _relationship_ at the end of the last term. Ginny had always just been Ron's little sister and not much more. It is not that he didn't care for Ginny, it was just that since their break-up and then the discovery of the truth surrounding their brief involvement Harry had spent almost no time thinking about their relationship and he really had no desire to start now.

So in turn, Harry was paired up with Luna by default, which wasn't a bad thing. In fact, he was quite happy about it; she was a good worker. Most of the time they worked in silence, however, there were those occasions when they would come across an item that would spark Luna's interest. She would tell a funny anecdote or relate it to an article she had once read in _The Quibbler_. Of course even though most of the stories she told were quite outlandish, Harry enjoyed them none the less. And when every break consists of; listening to Ron, Hermione or Ginny griping about various things, including the long hours, the dust and poor air quality, poor lighting, splinters from broken furniture, the disgusting amounts of trash, and their encounters with various rodents (both dead and alive) and unidentifiable skeletal remains, Luna was indeed a breath of fresh air. She had not once complained about any of the less pleasant things. She _actually_ seemed to be enjoying herself. It was typical of Luna to be treating this like it was some grand adventure. Harry was beginning to believe that Luna treated everything in her life as if it were just part of some grand adventure.

Harry had also notice that Neville appeared to be enjoying the experience as much as Luna. Harry suspected that it was because neither of them had anything better to do with their time, especially Luna who had been stuck at Grimmauld Place for the last three months. But whatever it was, Neville had certainly looked happy when Harry had told him he was paired with Ginny. It seemed as though nothing could dampen his spirits.

But now three days had passed and not a bit of luck finding what they were looking for, of course this was regardless of the fact that none of them really knew _what_ they were looking for. After all this time he and Luna had only managed to search about a third of their area, Hermione and Ron just a little a head of them, and Neville and Ginny had only gotten about a fourth of theirs done. At this rate they would be here through Christmas and into the New Year.

"_Perform the Animusquaero charm on anything that looks old and might have once belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw,"_ were the instructions Harry and Hermione had given the group. Discarded sherry bottles (thanks to Professor Trelawney), broken classroom desks and chairs, congealed bottles of potions, broken dragon egg shells, Fanged Frisbees and really anything that could not possible have been around a thousand years ago could be overlooked, but just about everything else was fair game to be charmed and then marked.

The _Animusquaero_ charm; this whole search would have been _completely_ hopeless (not that it wasn't anyway) had Hermione and Luna _not_ discovered the charm in Luna's mother's notes. Who would ever have thought that there was a way of telling if an item had indeed been possessed by a living bit of a human soul? And what a bit of luck that Luna's mother, who it turns out was once an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries, had specifically worked with various aspects of the magically soul and had left very detailed notes of her findings hidden in the ruins of the Lovegoods' home.

And thank goodness that Hermione was able to discover that Tom Riddle had indeed come across an artifact of the Ravenclaw founder (although no one seems to know exactly what that artifact was). But they did find out that it was Tom who originally discovered the Vanishing Cabinet and had it moved to Borgin and Burkes while he was still working there (only Tom Riddle had known at the time that the cabinet had direct access to Hogwarts) and around that same time a fellow Borgin and Burkes' employee had been murdered. That is when it all made sense. Tom Riddle had his Ravenclaw Horcrux and what better place to hide it than Hogwarts and what better place _in_ Hogwarts than the Room of Requirements. And that is why six former Hogwarts' students were now searching the massive room in their old school that had, as of the beginning of the fall term, been closed indefinitely.

Harry, after the second day, was able to perform the charm on his own, so Luna and he no longer had to work together, instead they now worked side by side going through items on their own. Luna, for the most part, had stayed relatively close to Harry so that they could continue their occasional conversations. And when they weren't talking Luna usually hummed a pretty, yet unrecognizable tune, which Harry enjoyed listening to. The tune seemed to move the air around them, making it less stagnant and stale.

But today, Luna had decided to walk farther down the alleyway they were currently picking through.

"I just want to get an overview of things that are coming up ahead, maybe something will jump out at me" she said pensively as she shuffled away from him.

Harry stopped what he was doing to watch her wander down the pathway humming quietly to herself while gracefully brushing her hands against various items on either side of her. Harry smiled at the thought of something _jumping_ out at her and it actually being the Horcrux they had been searching for all along. But the truth is he was secretly concerned that Luna was becoming bored and disinterested in the work, Merlin knows he was.

Luna had drifted about ten meters from him when she suddenly stopped in front of a very tall object. Harry watched as Luna pulled off the large black cloth that was covering it.

"Oh my! What a lovely mirror!" she exclaimed, "oh dear…how ghastly my hair looks." He could hear her mutter.

"Harry, why didn't you tell me my hair looked so horrendous?" she turned calling back to him with a bit of a chuckle in her typical dreamy voice. Harry did not get a chance to respond.

"Oh…how very curious?" Luna had turned her attentions back to the mirror and appeared to be having a conversation with it. "ooo…what's this…mmm… Erised stra ehru oytube cafru oyt on wobsi…oh, I see…hmm…now let me see…is …no wait…i show no…i show not you…your ….hmm…I show not your…face…but your …yes …oh yes I see…_I show not your face but your hearts desire_. Well, I guess that make sense, doesn't it?"

"Luna …the Mirror of Erised…" Harry uttered in a mere whisper.

"What was that Harry?" Luna asked as she turned to face Harry as he hurried towards her, only slowing down just before he reached her and the mirror.

"It's the Mirror of Erised…er…Professor Dumbledore told me about it my first year at Hogwarts," Harry was uncertain how much he wanted to tell Luna about his experience with the mirror. "It shows you what you desire most."

"Oh yes, I can see that. I saw my messy hair and then when I looked back, I then saw that I was holding a hairbrush and brushing my hair. What fun, really, isn't it?" Luna had vaguely turned her attentions to other objects surrounding the mirror and no longer seemed at all curious about the mirror.

Harry didn't want to insult her, but either something must be wrong with the mirror _or_, not entirely surprising, something was _wrong_ with Luna. Gads, he knew she was called _loony_ by people, but he also knew for a fact that this girl had faced almost as much tragedy in her short life as he had. It just couldn't be possible that the only thing her heart desired was a _hairbrush_?

"Is that all? I…I mean it …it just showed you holding a brush? That's…it …I mean…uh…well…just a hairbrush? Is that all your heart desires, Luna?"

"Hmm …well, my hair is _really_ quite messy, Harry. Yes, I know I don't take care of it as well as I should, but I do enjoy a good brushing. So I suppose yes, right now my heart's desire would be to brush my hair." She stated rather matter-of-factly as she hypnotically stared up at on object teetering on top of a tower of rubbish, while runner her fingers through the ends of a large snarled clump of her waist long hair.

"But…I mean… isn't there anything else?"

"Anything else? What do you mean, Harry?"

"That your heart desires. Isn't there anything _else_ that would make you happy? "

"_Make_ me happy? What a curious thing to say." She had moved closer to him and was now staring directly at him with her large misty unblinking eyes. Harry could see the shapes of various objects reflected in them.

When she started to speak it was very slowly yet her voice was whimsical, "hmmm…perhaps you are referring to money or power or eternal life, are _those_ the things that are suppose to _make _me happy?"

"Yes…well…yes…I mean no. What I mean, maybe those things, but not necessarily. I mean there must be something, _other than a hairbrush_, that would make you happy."

"Harry, the hairbrush won't _make_ me happy, _nothing_ can _make_ a person happy. Yes, I suppose certain things can bring you a moment of great joy or happiness, but happiness is not a _state of being_ Harry, happiness is a _state of mind. _You don't need _things_ to _be_ happy, you can choose to be happy all on your own. Hmmm…yes, that is the wonderful thing about emotions, they really can come and go as _we choose_. They are probably one of the few things that we do actually have control over, aren't they?"

"Uh…" Harry paused for a long time while considered what Luna was saying, "so then… Luna…are you happy? I mean do you _choose_ to be happy all the time then?"

Almost immediately Luna burst out into a fit of laughter. Her body shook so hard she had to brace herself on the frame of the ornate mirror to keep herself standing. Not since the first time Harry had met her had he seen her laugh like this. Then she began to hiccup with such force she actually scared Harry. He could do nothing but stare at her in amazement until she calmed herself. And when she did, after what seemed like an eternity, she turned her enormous eyes back on Harry.

"I'm sorry Harry, but that _really_ was a very silly thing to say."

"Uh…well…I'm sorry then." Harry replied rather coldly.

"No, don't be sorry, it's just that…well, how can anybody _be_ happy all the time? What I mean is if you were happy all the time, then you would no longer appreciate the fact that you _were_ happy and then it wouldn't be happiness anymore, would it?" Harry stared at her blankly.

Luna continued, "If every day was a sunny day Harry, we wouldn't call it sunny anymore would we? It would just be a day like every other day. We need cloudy days, every once and awhile, to be able to recognize the sunny ones, don't we?" Harry finally began to understand what Luna was saying. He vaguely nodded his head.

"To answer your question, Harry; no, I do not choose to be happy all the time. Sometimes I enjoy moments, even days, of melancholy."

Luna paused, her expression seemed lost for a moment as she stared down at something unknown to Harry and then her head popped up un-expectantly, startling Harry, as she continued.

"There are also days where I choose to have no mood at all. Just _being_ is good enough. I must say I do like a variety of moods, however I am not particularly found of anger. _That_ is one emotion I find the most difficult to control." Luna now turned her attention to an item perched on a crate directly across from her.

"Oh look Harry! I can't believe it!" Her voice was filled with utter excitement.

Harry moved closer to the object she was looking at, but he couldn't make it out, "Er…what is that?"

"Oh Harry, it's a miniature replica of a Blibbering Humdinger. Daddy made it for me for my tenth birthday. It's been missing since second year. Someone must have put it in here for safe keeping." Luna pulled the small object from its hiding spot and stuck into the large pocket on her oversized knit jumper.

Harry winced as he thought about the time Luna had told him that people often took and hid her things just because they thought she was bit _odd_.

"Well, there you have it, Harry!"

"Huh…there I have _what_?"

"Well you _see_, sometimes outside forces or _things_ can make it easier or harder to bring certain moods to the surface. Just like finding my missing Blibbering Humbinger has brought me a moment of great joy. But ultimately, I know that I am the one who decides what mood I am going to be in. Hmm…that reminds me of what Mum use to say_ 'our emotions are like clothing, Luna, everyday we get to choose what we are going to wear, but we mustn't forget that we can always change our clothes if we need or want to_.' Well, unless of course you go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where you are required to wear awful school robes every single day; how terribly restricting it was, no way to truly express yourself. That is why I had taken to wearing my very own original accessories. They still are a wonderful way for me to express my various moods regardless of school rules." Luna vaguely ran her fingers across her Butterbeer cap necklace.

Harry knew for a fact that Luna's Butterbeer cap necklace was more than just one of her many _original_ accessories, but he still chuckled at the thought of all the crazy jewelry Luna has worn, like today; in addition to her necklace she also wore a pair of bright green acorn earrings.

Then he began to think about what she had just said. It really did explain a lot about who Luna really was. But yet he didn't know how to respond to her. Everything she said was true. We _really_ are in control of our own emotions.

Harry knew Luna was still staring at him, but he couldn't even bring himself to look at her. He was embarrassed thinking about how often he had lost control of his own emotions. Yet he also knew that it was his ability to control his emotions that allowed him to finally get over Sirius' death, because _he_ _decided_ he needed to move on. And even when Professor Dumbledore died, he _knew_ he couldn't dwell on it. Again, _he _decided how he was going to handle it. These thoughts gave Harry an immense sense of power over himself.

Harry was suddenly snapped out of his moment of revelry when Luna asked;

"So what about you Harry?"

"Huh…uh…what? What about_ me_?"

"What_ is_ Harry Potter's heart's desire? No wait…let me figure it out. I suppose if I had to take a guess, hmm…let me see…how about _finding_ the Rowena Ravenclaw Horcrux?"

Luna's face was beaming as Harry looked down into her eyes, her bright shining (_gorgeous?)_ eyes. He paused for a moment just looking at her; he then noticed she was tilting her head towards the Mirror of Erised.

And with that little gesture, a smile, so big, grew across Harry's face he thought it might actual crack.

"Luna Lovegood you are brilliant!" He roared, pulling her into a huge hug, at the same time spinning her around and then, without thinking, he planted a great big kiss on her cheek.

And as he let go of her in order to step in front of the Mirror, he never noticed the expression on Luna's face, first of surprise then of unabashed joy, as she lightly touched with the tips of her finger the place where he had kissed her just a moment before.

Hmm…yes, sometimes outside forces do make it much easier to find the perfect emotion.

_**FIN**_


End file.
